


If Laura Fell

by SharpestRose



Category: Batman (Comics)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-18
Updated: 2011-07-18
Packaged: 2017-10-21 12:28:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/225168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharpestRose/pseuds/SharpestRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five things that never happened to Darla Aquista</p>
            </blockquote>





	If Laura Fell

1.

After almost a year, Darla starts going to parties. Her father doesn't try to stop her. She could ask him anything and he'd say yes; he's that glad that she's alive.

She wears low-cut dresses, showing off the bullet scar where her upper chest was ripped apart in the gang war. Where she failed to die. It makes most of the partygoers turn away. That makes her smile.

Her smile's got a smirk in it, now. She feels harder. Maybe dying and coming back'll do that.

Darla goes to parties and shows off her scars in a way that makes even some of the bosses flinch. And, at one of the parties (they're all alike after a while), she makes a friend.

"Helena Bertinelli," the woman says, holding a hand out. She's polished, beautiful, and looks like she takes absolutely no bullshit whatsoever. "I like your dress."

"You don't think it shows too much skin?" Darla asks, smirk back in full volume. The dress is short enough to display a whole lot of leg, a significant amount of arm, and her scar. Scar seems like such a little word.

Bertinelli shakes her head. "No, I don't."

\------------

2.

Darla's never met this girl before. She's pretty, in a sharp-edged kind of way, but she seems friendly enough.

"I told your housekeeper I was in your class at school," the girl explains, standing in the doorway to Darla's room. "My name's Steph."

The penny drops. "Tim's girlfriend."

"Yeah. I... look, I saw you try to kiss him this afternoon. He told me you don't believe I exist."

"I'll step off," Darla says quickly. "I'm really bad at the chick fight thing... my nails are too short, for starters. Plus my Dad has like a zillion bodyguards, so if you're -"

Steph holds up a hand in a 'shut up' gesture. "Please, give me a little credit here. I know what Tim's like. I've had my own range of trust issues with the guy. I can imagine how easy it would be to believe that he was lying about me. And lord knows I can't blame you for trying."

Darla relaxes, a little. "He's a great guy. You're lucky."

"I know. Look, we're cool, okay? And you can be his friend if you want. I don't keep him on a leash. But if you try to hook up with him, now that you know I'm in the picture, just keep in mind that I'm not scared of bodyguards."

The threat sounds real, but Darla smiles anyway. "Got it. Hey, thanks for not being a psycho about this."

Steph smiles back. "You, too."

\------------

3.

She buys the gun and doesn't bother to learn how to aim it properly, because she's only going to need it once.

It's easy to get into where she needs to be. It's one of the virtues of looking like a teenage girl, even if she's something else entirely now.

Black Mask gurgles when the first bullet goes in. At least, she thinks he does. It's hard to tell. She didn't realise the shots would be so loud.

She throws the gun away after she's emptied it into his chest. If the police look for fingerprints, the only ones they'll find are a dead girl's.

\------------

4.

She knows that Bernard's gone long before Tim stops the CPR, but she can't think properly. The blood is one hell of a distraction.

And then Batman's there, and other Batman-type people, and Darla can't remember when they got there but Batman's holding Bernard's body and carrying it outside, and one of the others clasps Tim on the shoulder and says "You did everything you could." Darla knows that can't be true, because Bernard's dead, so they could have done something more.

"Tim?" she manages to say, her throat hoarse from trying not to cry. "Please, I need..." She's not sure if she's pleading for help, or _to_ help. "What should I do?"

Tim's still flinty-eyed. She's seen him steer situations before, but never like this. Never like a general in a war. She hopes she's got it in her to be a good soldier.

"There's a clinic," this new, scary Tim tells her. "On Park Row. I'm going there now. It'll be a relatively safe place for you to hide, and you can be a help there. Come on."

She follows him out into the sunlight.

\------------

5.

 _"Darla, I already have a girlfriend. Her name's Stephanie."_

Some things, she can't remember so well. Other bits have stuck. She's not sure if there's any rhyme or reason to what falls away and what doesn't.

 _"I'm just glad to see a girl finally got the job."_

 _"Well, don't get used to her. She's doomed."_

She goes down to see the memorial, but stays in the shadows. Candles and flowers and photos. There aren't any photos of her. Nobody left to put them up, now that her Dad's dead and Tim's in Bludhaven.

Darla wonders where the memorial organisers got the photograph of Stephanie Brown dressed as Robin. It's a posed picture, not a candid snap. Did Batman take it? Does he hang them on the mantlepiece? Do the pictures come down when the Robins die?

A hand grabs her shoulder, spinning her. She moves to lash out, to let her power go nuts and waste them. It's bubbling in her all the time. If she lets it kill, it might let her have a moment to herself inside her head.

"Darla Aquista?"

It's fucking _Batman_. Darla forces herself to chill out and get her breathing back to normal. Not that she needs to breathe anymore.

"I hear you lugged my corpse around. Thanks, I guess," she says. He's staring so hard she feels like she's going to catch fire.

"How are you alive?" His voice is a growl.

She pulls away from his hand. "One of those things."

"Do you know... there's another. Who's come back. Is there a connection between you?"

Oooh, a mystery. Darla shakes her head. "No. Is it her?"

"No."

"Maybe she's just waiting until things get interesting."

Darla turns, and slips back into the dark. She isn't followed.


End file.
